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Ford CEO Farley Asleep On China, Rudely Awakened
Farley went to China, drove their electric cars, was shocked to realize they were far better and cheaper than Ford could match
The job of CEO of a global company comes with a few requirements. Being awake should be one of them. Since 2020, Farley has received $82 million for napping it seems. Before that, he had executive vice president and leadership roles responsible for global marketing and sales back through 2010, also raking in the big bucks.
Late in 2023, Farley and his replacement chief operating officer — Farley held that job for a few months before ascending to the Master Bedroom — stretched, rubbed their eyes and flew to China on a junket undoubtedly intended to reinforce their rightful American exceptionalism. Unfortunately, reality threw a vat of ice water over them in the form of incredibly refined, competent and cheap electric cars, shocking them fully awake.
“John, this is an existential threat,” Farley told Ford board member and former Goldman Sachs executive John Thornton after his trip.
Yes, only in mid 2023 did the CEO and Chairman of Ford Motor Company, one of America’s most storied firms, realize that maybe the Chinese weren’t just doing cheap knockoffs of US products and happily…
